2006-03-31 Planning Commission Minutes

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For Commissioner Watanabes information, Mr. Yuen said the map showing a future collector that bypasses much of Palani Road is not a change but it placed in the 1989 General Plan; and other than a conceptual alignment, nothing has been done as far as land acquisition, design, or anything. On the Kailua to Keauhou area map, B-2, Mr. Yuen agreed with Commissioner Springer that this slide does not reflect the A-7 deletion. On the Kailua to Keauhou area map, B-7, Mr. Yuen gave a status report on the lower section of Lako Street that connects to Alii Drive, noting that Public Works did do an environmental assessment but no design work has been done, and he was not sure if funding has been approved. Regarding the South Kohala District Map F, Mr. Yuen informed Mr. Graham that differentsegmentsoftheSaddleRoadhasbeenfundedandtheworkbeingdoneiscloser to Hilo. In response to Commissioner Springers inquiry, Mr. Yuen said that he did not think it was critical to include a cell tower map in the facilities map section, noting the locations do change a fair amount over time. In response to the inquiry of Commissioner Galdones on how it can be determined which are State or County Roads to seek funding from the appropriate agency to improve a certain roadway to address safety and congestion concerns, Mr. Yuen said the Planning Department has information on which roads are County and which are State, and generally major arterial roads are State and local roads are County, noting there are markers on State highways. Mr. Yuen referred to an article he wrote in the Hawaii Island Journal and said that traditionally a major road construction is funded 80 percent by the Federal aid system and the local match is only 20 percent, but the difficulty is available with each island competing with each other. He added that projects such as the Waimea by-pass or Queen K going to four lanes, etc. would wipe out the funding that comes to this island for years, noting much of it traditionally goes to things for safety improvements, like curve straightening, replacing bridges. Mr. Yuen said if the County is going to get serious about funding, Hawaii County is going to have to come up with its own funding sources, whether from property taxes, or increased fuel taxes, or some other source as relying just on Federal aid will account for maybe four major projects in a 15- year timeframe. For Commissioner Grahams information, Mr. Yuen explained there is a Statewide transportation improvement (STIP) program, involving the State and County agencies and various community groups, that sets funding priorities over the next 3-4 years, but there are chaotic elements to how things actually get built. Commissioner Galdones expressed his frustration of having all these plans to take care of a problem and yet it can sit for years because there are no funds. Mr. Yuen agreed 5